1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system or method of promoting tissue growth and more specifically a system for applying reduced pressure tissue treatment to a tissue site.
2. Description of Related Art
Reduced pressure therapy is increasingly used to promote wound healing in soft tissue wounds that are slow to heal or non-healing without reduced pressure therapy. Typically, reduced pressure is applied to the wound site through an open-cell foam that serves as a manifold to distribute the reduced pressure. The open-cell foam is sized to fit the existing wound, placed into contact with the wound, and then periodically replaced with smaller pieces of foam as the wound begins to heal and become smaller. Frequent replacement of the open-cell foam is necessary to minimize the amount of tissue that grows into the cells of the foam. Significant tissue in-growth can cause pain to patients during removal of the foam.
Reduced pressure therapy is typically applied to non-healing, open wounds. In some cases, the tissues being healed are subcutaneous, and in other cases, the tissues are located within or on dermal tissue. Traditionally, reduced pressure therapy has primarily been applied to soft tissues. Reduced pressure therapy has not typically been used to treat closed, deep-tissue wounds because of the difficulty of access presented by such wounds. Additionally, reduced pressure therapy has not been used in connection with healing bone defects or promoting bone growth, primarily due to access problems. Surgically exposing a bone to apply reduced pressure therapy may create more problems than it solves. Finally, devices and systems for applying reduced pressure therapy have advanced little beyond the open-cell foam pieces that are manually shaped to fit a wound site and then removed following a period of reduced pressure therapy.